Craftylilly

A meme and exercise, Oh My!

Today is my last day where I have both kids at school for a couple of hours, so I plan to make the most of it, by getting out a little by myself.  I do have to do a little birthday shopping for PQL, but I'm thinking some window shopping by myself might be quite nice!  I still don't have any WIP pictures yet, but I do have a meme, and an exercise-a-long to share!  First the meme.  Feel free to play along on your own blog if you haven't already!

Here’s how it works:

* Type your answers to each of the questions below into Flickr Search
* Using only the first page, pick an image
* Copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker

Questions:

1. What is your first name? Jennifer
2. What is your favorite food? Noodle Soup (Asian style)
3. What high school did you go to? Northgate High
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Ok, this is difficult.  I guess right now it's Christian Bale.
6. Favorite drink? Iced Tea
7. Dream vacation? Secluded one, beach, mountain, doesn't matter.
8. Favorite dessert? Creme Brulee
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Teacher, oh wait, I already am!
10. What do you love most in life? my family
11. One word to describe you. Honest
12. Your Flickr name. Craftylilly

1. Jennifer, 2. Asian Chicken Noodle Soup, 3. Untitled, 4. Just an Orchid, 5. christan bale wallpaper, 6. quench your bokeh thirst, 7. Sanibel Evening, 8. open sesame, 9. My habitat, 10. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 'tiz the Season! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ What have we here? ~ Christmas Kitty, Good Cheer! Happy Holidays, Everyone ! ! !, 11. Speak Up for Peace, 12. March Postcard

So, the exercise challenge...  I was reading Carrie's blog and saw that she was going to do a six week push-up program to work on her core and arms.  I took the initial test (only got 5 pushups so will start on the lowest tier), and thought that exercising along with friends would be a good idea!  Carrie is asking for people to join her and post before and after pics for a chance at a prize.  The prize is a side point, the bigger idea is for people to exercise together.  So, if you're interested, leave a comment over at her blog and join us!

Gifties and a new camera!

My mailperson has been very good to me lately.  First, for being one of the three people who completed the Celebration shawl by the end of June, Anni, sent me a gorgeous skein of merino laceweight.  It's a lovely shade of pink in a colorway called Antique.  Not sure what shawl it's destined to be, as right now it's sitting on my desk being pet and loved as a skein. 

Also, Sarah (Knittingarch over on Ravelry) sent me a perfect pair of socks for my birthday.  They fit perfectly and are so snuggly.  She dubs them Spanish Dancer socks, and I will get much wear and dancing out of them.  Thank you Sarah!

I also got a new camera recently.  I had been using a Canon Powershot SD10.  We have a fancy Nikon, but I found that the little Canon was perfect for taking out with me, and really handy and uncomplicated for taking blog and etsy photos.  However, after getting our Nikon, I started to notice that the pictures I was getting out of the Canon were a little lacking.  Plus, the battery and the replacement batteries were not lasting as long as I really would have liked.  So, we picked up the Canon Powershot SD1100.  It's a nice little camera.  I still have the portability and the ease of use, but the pictures are better.  I know I'm not the best picture taker, but no longer can I blame it on the camera.

Hopefully the next post will include some knitting pics!  That's the plan anyway, but you know what they say about best laid plans...   

A small Meme break

I've been tagged by Iris and also saw an interesting meme on the Loopy Girls blog, and so since I don't have anything of note to share, I thought I'd participate. 

So here's the first one.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
I had just gotten married to RM, just graduated from graduate school, and found a teaching job at an all girl's Catholic High school.  I was spending the summer preparing for my first year of teaching, and resting after a very busy year planning a wedding, and working on a Master's thesis.

2. What are 5 things on your to-do list today?
1) Drop off and pick up RR from summer school.
2) Keep a routine doctor's appointment.

3) Take the kids to Soccer Clinic.
4) Drop a package off at UPS.  RM's Xbox 360 got the red ring of death and had to be sent by to Microsoft for repair.
5) Call a friend back.

3. What are your favorite things to snack on?
Lately I've been loving Trio bars.  They are very yummy and healthy. 

4. Where are some places you've lived?
I've lived in Davis, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, other random places around the Bay Area, CA.

5. What would you do if you were a billionaire.
Hmm, well I'd give a lot to charities, pay off debts, set up trust funds for my kid's education, start a business with the hubby.

6. What jobs have you done?
I worked at a Deli, was a night receptionist at a local church, substitute teacher, High school teacher, mom.

7. Which other people would you like to know more about?  I'd like to know more about anyone who'd like to play.

And the second one is a book meme:

1. One book that made you laugh: Lamb:  The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.  Hey, I was/am a religion teacher, so any satire/humor novel amuses me.  This one is fairly clever too without being condescending.

2. One book that made you cry:  Where the Red Fern Grows.  I've actually cried due to many other books, but this is the first one that made me cry as a child.  I still tear up as an adult just thinking about it.

3. One book that you loved as a child: The Westing Game, I loved this book.  It started my lifelong love of mysteries.

4. One book you’ve read more than once: Wuthering Heights.  Yes, the characters aren't that sympathetic, but the dark, gothic nature of this story gets me every time.  I love it.

5. One book you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: Hmm, this is a tough one.  I'm not that embarassed by any book that I've truly loved.

6. One book you hated: I don't usually hate books.  A book that I didn't enjoy reading at all is Lolita by Nabokov.  Reading the book for me was the equivalent of feeling slimed.

7. One book that scared you: I also don't get scared reading books.  One book that I found very creepy was The Turn of the Screw.

8. One book that bored you:  100 Years of Solitude.  To me, it felt like reading it took 100 years.

9. One book that made you happy: I'm thoroughly enjoying the book that I just finished called Hood by Stephen Lawhead.  It's a retelling of the Robin Hood story, but it's set years earlier, in Wales.  Robin Hood is a Welsh freedom fighter.  Great book, and the first of a trilogy.  I'm currently reading the second book in the series, Scarlet.

10. One book that made you miserable: The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver.  I loved this book, but there are parts that are just heart breaking and frustrating.  I don't know if I'll ever read it again.

11. One book that you weren’t brave enough to read: I'm not afraid to read anything.  Should I be?

12. One book character you’ve fallen in love with:  I've loved many a character in a book, but the first character I remember falling in love with as a child as Laura Ingalls from the Little House on the Praire books.  What a wonderful character.  I loved her from childhood to her adulthood.

13. The last book you read: Hood by Stephen Lawhead

14. The next book you hope to read: Once I'm done with Scarlet, I'm considering taking up Anna Karenina.  It's been on my "to read" list for far too long.

Let me know if you do either of these memes on your blog!

Where, oh where are the lazy days of summer?

Every morning I sit down and think about blogging, and then get caught up in the rush of the family summer schedule.  Both kids are in different summer schools, both are in different soccer classes, and then there's visits to the pool, play dates, and other appointments.  At this rate the summer is just going to fly by.  The good thing is that the kids and I are enjoying it.  RM and I have been teaching the kids how to play various card games like Old Maid, Go Fish, War, and the like in the evenings.  It's a good time! 

I have been crafting a bit when I can.  I have friends' who are expecting their third child, and so I knit a bunny blanket (Rav link) for the coming child.  I used Lionbrand Homespun which isn't my favorite yarn to use.  There's really no give, and I find it easy to get caught up in the boucle, but I think the bunny turned out very cute, and the Homespun is very soft and machine washable, a must for a baby knit.  I'm especially pleased with the face that I embroidered.  I used regular embroidery floss in a dark brown color.  I think the face is cute and friendly.  After I made this little blankie, I did a ravelry search of the pattern, and think I did the head wrong.  I think my version came out cute anyway. 

I also spun up 4 ounces of superwash merino recently.  I have been missing spending time with my wheel and the cheerful colors of the Sakina Needles roving were begging to be worked with.  The colorway is called Gingerbread, but I think it looks more like spring sunset colors.  I ended up with about 360 yards of heavy fingering weight.  I have no plans for it yet (do I ever for my handspun?).

I've spent a little time setting up my loom too.  I've already made a couple of mistakes preparing the warp, so I'm going to try again this weekend.  I think once the warp is prepared and organized well, the rest will fall into place.  It's a process as Margene says, and it's really true.  One thing I've learned from my many years of crafting is that many times making mistakes is the best way to learn how to do something.  I don't get as bothered with my crafting mistakes as I used to. 

The last bit of news is that RM and I have been watching a lot of TV shows on DVD lately.  Right now we're watching HBO's John Adams which we are enjoying.  We did just finish watching Season 1 of Burn Notice and absolutely loved it.  The story is good, and the characters are interesting, but a big draw are two of the main actors, Bruce Campbell, and Jeffrey Donovan.  We're big Bruce Campbell fans here, after all we named our first cat that we adopted together, Ash from the Evil Dead movies.  As for Donovan, he starred in a semi-supernatural cop show called Touching Evil that we both liked but was canceled. Now, we hardly even watch a show when it's actually on TV.  We do DVR two shows, Heroes, and Project Runway.  We're now DVR'ing Season 2 of Burn Notice.  Season 2 starts on Thursday!

Lastly, I just joined up with plurk.  Anyone else plurking?    

An answer to a question

I'm not quite sure what's going on with all the fires, but the air has been much clearer this week.  My sinuses are so much happier, and so are the kids as we've been able to spend much more time outside at the pool, parks, and playing in the yard.  I can only hope that the fires are being contained, but I fear that fires will be a worry all summer due to the extremely dry spring we had this year.

A few blog posts ago I showed a picture of a big blue bag and asked you all what new crafting toy was inside.  Many of you guessed a small loom.  Yes, I did get a loom for my birthday!  I got a 24" Kromski Harp which is a rigid heddle loom.  Fiber has officially taken over my life, my friends.  I haven't had a chance to do anything with the loom yet, as I haven't had a spare couple of hours to play around with warping it.  PQL is starting summer school next week, so I'm thinking I'll get some time soon.  I did start a subscription to Handwoven though, and have enjoyed perusing the pages. 

While RM has been at summer school, PQL and I have had a chance to explore a new fun place nearby.  In the brand new shopping area in Lafayette, a brand new retro candy shop has opened.  The store is called Powell's and it's such a fun place. They sell an amazing array of candy, and toy/joke shop items.  We found a couple of different candy to try, and I picked up a cute little pouch shaped like a Hostess cupcake.  Cute, no?

After finishing up the stole, I've been splitting time between a few different small knitting projects.  I really wanted a quick crafting project though, so I took out the sewing machine and whipped up two aprons out of two tea/dish towels I had on hand.  I used this tutorial.  I liked how they came out!  I'm going to give them as gifts to two friends of my kids.  Every kid needs a cool apron, no? 

We're going to have a family barbecue tomorrow for the 4th.  If I don't get to the blog tomorrow, let me wish all of you fellow Americans a happy and safe 4th of July.  I wish all my blog readers/friends have a restful and crafty weekend! 

Two months of celebrations end with a Stole

I have an FO to share!  I finished my Celebration Stole from Sockmania just in time to be entered into the drawing.  I'm quite please with how this turned out.  I used some merino laceweight from Scout that I had custom dyed.  I think the lace panel is simple enough to really set off the colorway.  I also thought that the lace pattern was easy to follow and looks great.  This is the first time that I've knit a stole, and I like it.  I still like the look of triangle shawls a little more, but the rectangular stole will be easy to wear. 

Project Specs:

Pattern:  Celebration Stole by Anni of Sockamania

Yarn:  Merino Laceweight from Scoutsswag in Water Nymph

Needles:  size 5 Addi Lace

Mods:  None

I also thought I'd share with you the wretched air quality, we in the Northern California are experiencing right now.  With the 700 or so fires going on, the ash and soot in the air is unreal.  At least the smell of fire has died down, and finally this morning I could actually sort of see Mt. Diablo, but it's been bad.  For most of last week, I couldn't see the mountain at all, and I live at the foot of the mountain.  Yep, that's bad.  In this picture, look right above the house in the middle of the picture.  See that hazy blob?  Yep, that's part of the mountain.  On a normal day you can see this clearly.  There's been health alerts about staying inside as much as possible, and we've been trying to do that, but it's hard with two kids who really need their outdoor play time.   

What happens in Vegas... ends up on the blog

RM and I got back from our weekend in Las Vegas on Monday, but we've been so busy with kids stuff, house stuff, and car stuff that I'm finally getting a report to you today. 

We flew down on Saturday and arrived to 110 temperatures.  Wowza, that's hot, is all I've got to say.  We stayed at the Palazzo which is a lovely hotel.  It's actually connected to/part of the Venetian which is a gorgeous place.  I loved looking at all the paintings, and replicas of marble statues and the like while we were there.  The Venetian and the Palazzo are also home to a rather fancy mall as well.  Everything was well beyond our price range, but we did enjoy the window shopping.  The Venetian is also home to gondola rides that go inside and outside the hotel.  We didn't get to take a ride, but enjoyed watching those who did.

The highlights of the trip were visiting with our friends who had driven out from San Diego to meet us.  We went to the show Spamalot on Sunday night, and absolutely had a blast!  What a great show.  John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld) played King Arthur.  He was really good.  Also, Erica Ash, the actress who played Nala for the Broadway show The Lion King also starred at the Lady of the Lake.  What an incredible voice!  Another highlight was some of the food we got to eat.  I was a little worried before we got out there that I'd have a little trouble finding food to eat.  RM and I have diets rather low in fat and in meat.  I was pleasantly surprised though.  The best meal we had was lunch at a modern take on a Asian noodle shop called Mainland.  I had a vegetable dumpling soup that had fresh carrots, ginger, baby bok choy, button mushrooms, scallions, a savory vegetable stock, and the yummiest veggie dumplings I've ever had.  Delicious!

I didn't gamble at all, but rather watched RM play mini-pai gow poker and my friend's husband play black jack.  And no, we didn't win anything.  I mostly spent a lot of time just reading, strolling around, and relaxing.  It was glorious.  We did see a celebrity.  Those of you who've seen HBO's Carnivale, or the first season of Heroes will recognize the name Clea Duvall.  She was shopping at a Vegas souvenir store in the Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes.  As with the few celebrity sightings that I've had, I'm always reminded, and encouraged by the fact that actors in real life look normal and like everyone else.

I'm glad to be home and back with the kidlets, but it was nice not to have to cook, clean, feed children, or do business stuff.  All in all it was a very fun and relaxing anniversary trip. 

In crafting news, I'm almost done with my Celebration shawl.  I hope to have it off the needles, and blocking tomorrow!  Pictures soon. 

It's been a decade

Since RM and I said "I do."  We still love each other as much and even more than that June day.  We're off to Las Vegas to celebrate!  Have a good weekend everyone.

The summer break begins...

RR got out of school last Wednesday, and PQL the Friday before that.  While I have been enjoying a slower morning, we've been so busy.  Swim lessons started on Monday, and we've had various other commitments that have kept us out and about every day.  I'm thankful for the busyness though, as my kids get cabin fever very quickly. 

What that means in terms of crafting time, is that I haven't had very much of it.  I've been getting up a bit early to work madly on my Celebration stole, as it needs to be done and posted on the Sockmania blog by the end of the month.  I've got about a repeat and a half to do, plus the grafting, and blocking.  I think I can get it done.  No pictures I'm afraid as it looks like a pile of nothing right now.

For my birthday, I got a new crafting toy...  I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to fiddle around with it for another week or two.  I'm going to have to wait until the kids are both in summer school to have the time to experiment.  Any guesses as to what it is?

 

What's a good way to spend one's birthday?

Heading down to the local Peet's in the afternoon and scoring a Berry Pomagranate Freddo.  Yummy!  Yep, I'm a year older today, and you know what?  Thirty-four feels a lot like thirty-three.  It feels a lot different than twenty-four though.  Overall though, I have to say that I've enjoyed my 30's much more than my 20's.  Is that strange?  I feel more in control of my life and feelings than I did when I was younger.

Oh, and the picture?  That's the Mom art and writing that the Red Ranger did for his school.  Click on it to embiggen.  Check out how old RR thinks I am.  Yep, that's my boy!